Monday, October 7, 2013

India's Mars Mission likely to be a victim of US Government shutdown

Few
weeks back, I had written about India's Mars sniffer spacecraft that
was to have been launched in November-December of this year from
Sriharikota on eastern sea board of India. As per latest the news.
The spacecraft had already moved from ISRO workshops in Bengaluru
city to Sriharikota, where it is supposed to be integrated with its
launch vehicle PSLV C 25 already at the launch site. The integration
is supposed to begin by October 10th,
2013.

Traditionally,
ISRO avoids any rocket launching from Sriharikota during October and
November as it is generally considered as a cyclone season. However,
Mars spacecraft would be an exception as only between November to
early December, planets Mars and earth would be in a position, which
is suitable for launching the spacecraft. ISRO says that this launch
window is important and crucial. They must launch the spacecraft in
this period, hoping that the weatherr does not play spoilsport. If
the window gets lost due to some reason or other, Planet Mars and
Earth would not be coming is same positions for 24 months. India's
4.5 Billion Rupees Mars orbiter mission (MOM), is scheduled for
lift-off at 4.15pm on October 28 as per present plans so that by the
time it reaches a Geo Synchronous orbit after 20 days, the window
would be still open.

One of
the problems with the Mars mission is that unlike other near earth
satellite launches and even Lunar mission, spacecraft would be out of
coverage area of India's navigation systems, during the launch and
post-launch phases. To overcome this difficulty India has contracted
American space agency NASA, who have agreed to provide
communication and navigation support to track the spacecraft for
Indian Space Research Organisation at reimbursable cost. Nasa's deep
space network facilities in Spain, Australia and the US are scheduled
to provide navigation and tracking support, which would help in
accurate determination/ reconfirmation of orbit and position of
spacecraft. According to an ISRO spokesman, this NASA support alone
will cost ISRO about Rs 700 Million.

This
is the area, where the latest difficulty has now arisen for the Mars
mission. The present US government shutdown, that has inconvenienced
millions of Americans, has made is compulsory for NASA's 97% of its
18,000-strong workforce, to go on unpaid leave. This has left many of
its tracking stations worldwide unmanned. The ISRO's Mars mission is
banking on such stations to track the spacecraft. US Government
shutdown has thus become another source of worry for ISRO scientists
working on India's ambitious space programme to Mars.

ISRO
says that the launch window is so crucial because as Mars and Earth
will not be in positions suitable for such a launch programme till
the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016. In other words if present
window is lost, the spacecraft would have to wait for at least 2
years. As per present schedule, the spacecraft is supposed to have
been launched in the beginning of the window. If NASA support is
unavailable due to Government shut down, it may be posssible to delay
the launch at the most till early December. But once that is lost,
next opportunity would come after almost 24 months.

The US
government shutdown has not only inconvenienced millions of
Americans, it is also worrying India's scientists working on
ambitious space programme to Mars.

There
appears to be a ray of hope for ISRO. NASA has announced that that it
would go ahead with its own MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile
Evolution) mission, slated for launch as early as November 18. This
would mean that NASA would keep its international network of antennas
that track interplanetary spacecraft missions, operational. This
would suffice for India's Mars mission. ISRO scientists are taking
relief from this announcement as they go ahead with the launch
preparations.